Flexible connection



Aug. 22, 1933.

c. M. STANLEY 1,923,124

FLEXIBLE CONNECTION FiledfApril 4, 1952 INVENToR Carro/l Mran/eg a BY I ATT RNEY f i thrown upon the valve in various ways, generally Pcicnicci Aug; 2z, 1933 1,923,124

1,923,124 mxmta oNNEc'rloN Carroll M.- Stanley, Piedmont, Calif., assigllor to Oliver United Filters Inc.. San Francisco, Calif., a. Corporation of Delaware y Application April 4, 1932. serial No. 603,162 `4 claims. .(01. 28s-90) This invention relates to a flexible vacuum conthe vacuum line and the valve chamber and for Anection and is particularly adapted for connectinaccuracies inV the installation of these two ing the lter`valve of a continuous filter to a members. vacuum line. lMore specifically the object of my invention is As is well known, the entire cycle of a conthe provision "of a flexible vacuum connection tinuous filter (cake formation, washing, drying comprisingapgair of registering pipe fittings conand discharging) is controlled by an automatic nected by means of a flexible diaphragm and valve. This valve is composed of two main parts, provided with adjustable means whereby the Pipe the valve seat and the valve chamber.` The valve ttingS may be maintained in any predetermined seat is 4fixedly attached to the drum trunriion spaced relation.

. or filter shaft and revolves with it,`while the valve The t invention possesses' other advantageous chamber is generally mounted on a journal extenfeatures, Some 0f Which 'Witnlithe foregoing, Will sion from the valve seat and is held in a fixed be Set fOlth et length in the f0110Wing descripposltion. The contacting faces of the valve are tion Where I Shell Outline inA full that fOlln 0f anaccurately machined and generally ground fm. my invention which I have selected for illustraand in order to avoid leakage, should at all times tOn in the, drawing aeeelnpnying and fOI'ining be maintained in accurate registration. In order Part sOf the present Specification- In Said dIaW-. to relieve the valve of any undue strain, tending ins. have shown one form of my invention, to separate its engaging faces, it isnecessary to but it' iS t0 be undelStOOd that I d0 nOt lmitmyprovide all connections to thc-valve with a ccr- Self to such form, since the invention as set tain amount of exibiuty, i forth in the claims, may be embodied in a plul Strains tending to separate the engaging faces Tality 0f foi'mS- A of the valve may be due to mechanical strains Referring t0 the drawing 1- the tendency of the vacuum existing in the valve -tionand` piping to separate the valvev chamber fr0m Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the connection the valvey seat. Various, expedients have beefn"s Shown in Fig 1 indicating One-.Way in Which tried for the purpose of correcting these tendene the Vacuum connection ls lllsel'l'fed'lll the Vacuum cies, but all of them have been subject to some line 0f atcoiitinuous filtelobjection 01j other For example', flexible hose Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the connections connections have been tried but have been found fis shown in Fig- Lindlcallng anfilher' manner objectionable inasmuch as the atmospheric preslll Wlllch lille conlle/lloll may be inserted lll the sure external tothe hose tends to collapse it when Vacuum lille" I c 9 pg1ftig1 mums-maintained within it. The i As clearly shown inFigs.`1 and 2, the conneccquapse of .the y hose blocks the passageway tion consists of. alpair -of registering male and through it and as a'result, some means must be female plpe lltllllgs l and 2 respectively. eacll gf resorted to to prevent its collapse. Furthermore, Whlcll ls provldell Wlllll llllllges 3 and 4- A exl' collapsing of the hose tends to shorten it and ble dlapllra'gm of l'llllbel' 91' fabl'lc ls secured lo consequently to pull the valve or chamber-from the registering ends of the pipe fittings 1 and 2 the valve seat or cause anv excessive strain on by mealls of hose clamps 6 and 7 the journal upon which the valve 'chamber is The plpe fittings 1 and 2 are malQtalned ln any by pipingto which the valve is connected, orto iiection embdyiiig the Objects 0f my inven'.

UNlTED s-TATEsvPAri-mrorliica y Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a vacuumconmounted. Armoured hose has been tried, and 'predetermined spaced relsatlon by means lfaplll although *it is not subject to collapse it has rality of studsl 8 movably secured to the tting either not proven to be sufliciently 'flexible toA 2 by some such means' as bau and sockel' joints' meet Ithe requirements or suiiiciently fixed in and hailing .their )opposite ends nass loosely lengthto prevent strains developing when the through Openings 9 in the iange 3v-0fthe tting vacuum is applied. 1. The underface of the flange 3 is provided with l:in gcricra1therefore itis the object of my inrecesses 11 concentric. with the openings 9 in vention to provide a vacuum connection which which are seated the upper ends of coil springs will not bc collapsed cr shortened dueto the dif- 12 which surround the. studs-8. The lower ends ferentlal pressure existing between its interior [of these springs rest in spring seat 13 wllich are and exterior and which at the same time is posvadjustably Supported by means Of nlltS and 100k sessed of a suincient exibility to compensate for nuts 14 and 15 threadedl on the studs 8. `It is any relative motion that may take place between to be noted. that when connected as above de-l lll relative to each other either ina horizontal or in a longitudinal direction.

As shown in Fig. 2,- the flexible connection may be inserted in the vacuum line of the filter by means of complementary flanges 16 and 17 on the elbow 18 and the fitting 19 respectively and secured thereto in any well known manner as by means of bolts 2l. The elbow 18 is secured by means of the flange 22 to the flange 23 of the valve chamber 24. `Before inserting the flexible vacuum connection in the vacuum line, the flange 16 is lined up with the flange 17 as accurately as possible and these members are so spaced as to just accommodate the vacuum connection.

When inserted as above described, the vacuum connection has sufficient flexibility not only to compensate for any inaccuracies in the alignment of the elbow 18 and the fitting 19, but will also serve to maintain the valve chamber 24 and its valve seat (not shown) in perfect engagement regardlesspof any relative motion that may take place between the fitting 19 and the valve chamber 24 due to vibration or. other cause. Furthermore the compression of the coil springs 12 can be readily adjusted by means of the nuts 14 to compensate for the action of the atmospheric pressure exerted externally tending to telescope the two'fittings l and 2. Compensating means such as this is required due to the fact that there is a differential pressure between the exterior and interior of the connection and consequently the exterior atmospheric pressure which is greater than the interior pressure, tends to telescope the twoflttings. As above explained, it is essential that the two fittings be maintained at a predetermined spaced relation in order to I permit the perfect engagement of the valve chamber and the valve seat.

This differential pressure tending to telescope the two fittings 1 and 2 varies with the degree of vacuum maintained in the interior of the connection and therefore means must be provided for balancing the pressure of the springs 12 against the telescoping action of the differential pressure. The adjust-v able nuts 14 provide a very convenient means by which this may be done. i

In Fig. 3 the vacuum connection has been inserted in the vacuum line parallel to the axis of Lfree ends in engagement with said last mentioned 1 I the valve journal vand the ,valve chamber 24'. The flange 3 registers with a flange 25 of a fitting 26 and is connected thereto bymeans of bolts 21 in e the same manner that the flange 4 is secured to the fitting 19. The flange 27 of the Yfitting 26 is in turn bolted to the flange 23 of the valve chamber 2 tion is inserted at right angles to the valve journal as shown in Fig. 2 the tendency will be for" Locales scribed the ttings 1 and 2 are free to be moved l excessive load on the journal at right angles to the valve face. If the vacuum connection is inserted in line with the axis of the journal the differential pressure will have a tendency to shorten the connection and to therefore unseat the valve chamber from the valve seat. In either case the vacuum connection above described prevents strains being put upon the valve faces which may tend to unseat them, for it is. capable of absorbing consid erable lateral play and at the same time can be maintained at any predetermined length in balanced relation with any differential pressure that may exist betweenits interior and exterior. Although the connection has been described with particular reference to vacuum connections for continuous filters, it is to be understood that the use of this connection is by nomeans limited to this speciflc purpose and may be employed to accomplish the objects recited, in connection with any type of equipment.

I claim:

1. A 'vacuum connection comprising a pair of registering pipe fittings each flanged at its outer end; a flexible diaphragm for connecting the adjacent endsof said fittings; studs movably secured 1 to one of said flanges and having their free ends loosely engaged in openings formed in the other of said flanges and springs disposed between said anges for preventing said fittings from telescoping.

2. A vacuum connection comprising a pair of registering male an'd female pipe fittings each flanged at its 'outer end; a flexible diaphragm for connecting the adjacent ends of said fittings;

studs movably secured to one of said flanges and 3. A vacuum connection comprising a pair of registering male and female fittings each flanged at its `outer end; a flexible diaphragm` for connecting the adjacent ends of* said fittings; studs movably secured to one of said flanges and having their free ends loosely engaged in openings formed in the other of said flanges; longitudinally adjustable spring seats carried on .said studs and springs disposed in said seats and having their 'flange f 4. A vacuum connection adapted to be inserted inthe vacuum line of a continuous vacuum filter in close proximity to the filter valve, comprising agpair of registering male and female fittings each flanged at its outer end; al flexible diaphragm for connecting the adjacent ends of said fittings; studs movably secured to one of said flanges and l having their free ends loosely engaged in openings formed in the other of said flanges; longitudinally adjustablespring sweats carried on' said studs and 1 springs disposed in said seats and having their free ends in engagement withsaid last mentioned flange..

CARROLL M. STANLEY. 

